China was far in advance of the West in its technology and science by 1400. Yet the industrial revolution happened in the west. Christopher Cullen talks about some of the possible reasons for this puzzling fact.

Standing in a rice field in China, Christopher Cullen describes the great move south between the seventh and tenth centruies in China, and the expansion of wet rice cultivation. Some of the effects of growing rice on the ...

Standing in the observatory in Beijing, Christopher Cullen discusses the nature and sophistication of Chinese astronomy in the medieval period. The political as well as the intellectual interest in astronomy is outlined.

Confucianism has deeply influenced Chinese civilization. Christopher Cullen describes its effect on education, social structure and knowledge over the past centuries, against the backdrop of a Confucian building in Beijing.

The Chinese invented gunpowder some three or four centuries before it reached the West. Christopher Cullen watches a craftsman making gunpowder in China and participates in a demonstration of gunpowder propelled rockets.

From a very early date the Chinese were making extremely sophisticated and standardized weapons, often in huge quantities. The development of weapons manufacture and the threat of barbarian invasions is described by ...

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